Darkest Waters

An ancient and implacable evil turns its attention upward.

Gods

The world of Kor was formed between polar gods Ka’un and Ve’or. They jealously guard the metaphysical boundaries of their Natural world (sometimes called a Prime plane). Access from other planes is difficult, if not impossible, for any being with Divine power. Mortal beings, even very powerful mortals, can enter and leave the plane. Deities, however, can only draw close and offer power to mortals who will advance their interests and garner them worshipers.

As a result, most of the races of Kor do not pray to the gods directly. They pray to the recently mortal agents of the gods, called saints. Through these newly immortal agents, the gods grant spells to their faithful and enact miracles. The immortal agent, meanwhile, channels the prayers of the faithful back to the deity. The powerful gods, like Kord and Erathis, form the core of major religions on Kor, as on other Primes.

This restriction on Divine tampering within Kor is so powerful that no Divine being can overcome it. Not even Ka’un and Ve’or can act directly on the world, lest they break the planar barrier. Any deity that forces their way past the barrier is rendered mortal, and their power scattered across the Prime plane in other mortal vessels. While they retain vast amounts of power, they are now mortal beings. They can die, permanently. Some minor deities have done this, to escape other-planar conflicts. Because the act was deliberate, they get to choose the vessels their power is scattered into. If the crossing is not orchestrated carefully, the deity has no control over where their excess power is scattered, and they are usually unmade in the process. The world of Kor is littered with the fragments of gods who entered the world abruptly and without care. Shattered to pieces, their essence scattered and their identity destroyed, all that remains of them are potent artifacts.

The feline shape-shifting deity Sammurrast is an example of a god who deliberately entered Kor and gave up their Divinity. She forged an agreement with a Half-Lycanthrope cult, and they fabricated numerous feline statues. These were enchanted in the same manner as Lesser Golems, becoming low-level sentient beings. When Sammurrast entered Kor, she cast her excess power into these living statues. Almost two centuries later, her cult is still a dominant power in their part of the world. She is still alive, having taken a form with impressive powers of regeneration, though very old now. Eventually, she will die a mortal death, leaving behind the remnants of a living local religion.

By contrast, there is a fragment of a long-dead god embedded in a valley floor in the north eastern edge of the Farthane Barony. The fragment is a strange, other-worldly stone, so black it seems to dim light around it, and so smooth it feels like ice. Rose-colored quartz veins cover its surface, shedding a soft glow and a sense of warmth. This stone grants health to flora and fauna near its resting place. This alien stone, as large as a giant, is a god-shard, a fragment of a deity ripped apart by the planar barrier around Kor. All that remains of its divine power is the growth and healing magic it pours out to all living things around it.